As the role of the clinical pharmacist continues to develop and advance, it is critical to ensure pharmacists can operate in a practice environment and workflow that supports the full deployment of their clinical skills. When pharmacy technician roles are optimized, patient safety can be enhanced and pharmacists may dedicate more time to advanced clinical services. Currently, 17 states allow technicians to accept verbal prescriptions called in by a prescriber or prescriber's agent, or transfer a prescription order from one pharmacy to another...

BACKGROUND: The management of patients with enterocutaneous fistula (ECF) requires an interdisciplinary approach and poses a significant challenge to physicians, wound/stoma care specialists, dietitians, pharmacists, and other nutrition clinicians. Guidelines for optimizing nutrition status in these patients are often vague, based on limited and dated clinical studies, and typically rely on individual institutional or clinician experience. Specific nutrient requirements, appropriate route of feeding, role of immune-enhancing formulas, and use of somatostatin analogues in the management of patients with ECF are not well defined...

OBJECTIVE: To explore and understand participants' perceptions and attitudes towards the reporting of medication errors (MEs). METHODS: A qualitative study using in-depth interviews of 31 healthcare practitioners from nine publicly funded, primary care clinics in three states in peninsular Malaysia was conducted for this study. The participants included family medicine specialists, doctors, pharmacists, pharmacist assistants, nurses and assistant medical officers...

Objective. To implement an integrated, comprehensive, and learner-centered elective course focused at exposing learners to the interpretation of electrocardiograms and highlighting the mechanisms underlining the abnormal electrophysiological events. Design. Learners were presented with foundational information on the mechanisms underlying electrophysiological changes associated with the development of arrhythmias. They then discussed the interpretation of electrocardiogram (ECG) recordings and diagnosis of cardiovascular events...

Point-of-care testing (POCT) is defined as laboratory testing conducted close to the site of patient care. Although performed originally primarily by clinical staff for acute conditions, recent advances in technology have made such testing possible for disease screening and prevention across a wide range of conditions in virtually any setting, and often by individuals with little or no training. With the ongoing evolution in POCT, numerous concerns have arisen about the quality and accuracy of the tests, comparability between multiple tests for the same endpoint, interpretation of test results, and whether and how results should be used for therapeutic decisions and included in a patient's medical record...

Clinical Decision Support Systems (CDSS) are computerized tools designed to help healthcare professionals to make clinical and therapeutic decisions, with the objective of improving patient care. Prescription-targeted CDSS have the highest impact in improving patient safety. Although there are different designs and functionalities, all these systems will combine clinical knowledge and patient information in a smart manner, in order to improve the prescription process. With the emergence of new technologies and advances in smart decision systems, the implementation of said systems can achieve an important improvement in terms of the prescription process and patient safety...

BACKGROUND: Despite the positive data on clinical outcomes, cost savings, and provider experience, no study has surveyed providers to evaluate what pharmacy services they find to be worthwhile. OBJECTIVE: To determine what clinical, cost/access, and educational pharmacy services providers in a patient-centered medical home (PCMH) consider worthwhile and the perceived barriers to successful pharmacist incorporation. METHODS: A cross-sectional online survey was distributed to primary care physicians, nurse practitioners, and physician assistants in a PCMH physician group...

Pharmacovigilance centres monitor the safety of drugs, based on adverse drug reactions (ADRs) reported by doctors, pharmacists and pharmaceutical companies. However, the underreporting of ADRs remains a major problem. Our aim was to investigate preparedness of future doctors for their role in pharmacovigilance, by assessing their pharmacovigilance awareness, skills and knowledge. The study was a nationwide e-survey among medical students (third to sixth year) of all eight medical schools in the Netherlands...

AIMS AND OBJECTIVES: The role of pharmacists in chronic disease state management has been shown to significantly improve patient health outcomes and reduce overall health care costs. The current study is designed to assess the roles and attitudes of West Virginia (WV) pharmacists toward diabetes, evaluate services provided, address pharmacist clinical understanding and training, and demonstrate the challenges that limit pharmacists ability to deliver an efficient disease state management...

Falls are the leading cause of both fatal and non-fatal injuries in people aged 65 years and older and can lead to significant costs, injuries, functional decline, and reduced quality of life. While certain medications are known to increase fall risk, medication use is a modifiable risk factor. Pharmacists have specialized training in medication management and can play an important role in fall prevention. Working in a patient-centered team-based approach, pharmacists can collaborate with the primary care providers to reduce fall risk...

BACKGROUND: A range of health workforce strategies are needed to address health service demands in low-, middle- and high-income countries. Non-medical prescribing involves nurses, pharmacists, allied health professionals, and physician assistants substituting for doctors in a prescribing role, and this is one approach to improve access to medicines. OBJECTIVES: To assess clinical, patient-reported, and resource use outcomes of non-medical prescribing for managing acute and chronic health conditions in primary and secondary care settings compared with medical prescribing (usual care)...

PURPOSE: Chronic myeloid leukemia (CML) is a clonal myeloproliferative disease, accounting for 15 to 20% of leukemias, with an incidence of one to two cases/100,000 inhabitants. In Brazil, the estimated incidence of leukemia is six cases/100,000 men and 4.28 cases/100,000 women. CML is characterized by the presence of the Philadelphia chromosome. At present, three types of tyrosine kinase inhibitors (TKI) are administered to treat CML patients in the Brazilian public national health system (NHS), called the Unified Health System (in Portuguese, "Sistema Único de Saúde", SUS)...

PURPOSE: The current state of pharmacogenomics education for pharmacy students and practitioners is discussed, and resources and strategies to address persistent challenges in this area are reviewed. SUMMARY: Consensus-based pharmacist competencies and guidelines have been published to guide pharmacogenomics knowledge attainment and application in clinical practice. Pharmacogenomics education is integrated into various pharmacy school courses and, increasingly, into Pharm...

PURPOSE: The operational elements essential for establishing an inpatient pharmacogenetic service are reviewed, and the role of the pharmacist in the provision of genotype-guided drug therapy in pharmacogenetics programs at three institutions is highlighted. SUMMARY: Pharmacists are well positioned to assume important roles in facilitating the clinical use of genetic information to optimize drug therapy given their expertise in clinical pharmacology and therapeutics...

PURPOSE: Three different precision medicine practice models developed by oncology pharmacists are described, including strategies for implementation and recommendations for educating the next generation of oncology pharmacy practitioners. SUMMARY: Oncology is unique in that somatic mutations can both drive the development of a tumor and serve as a therapeutic target for treating the cancer. Precision medicine practice models are a forum through which interprofessional teams, including pharmacists, discuss tumor somatic mutations to guide patient-specific treatment...

OBJECTIVE: Nowadays, the role of clinical pharmacists has become more prominent by more clinical pharmacists joining the health-care teams. This study was aimed to assess the role of a clinical pharmacist specialist in detecting and managing drug-related problems (DRPs) in the neurology ward of a tertiary care teaching hospital in Iran. METHODS: This is a prospective cross-sectional study conducted on 123 hospitalized patients admitted to the neurology ward of a teaching hospital...

OBJECTIVE: To determine pharmacist career paths and resident perceptions after completion of a PGY1 community pharmacy residency with a national supermarket pharmacy chain. METHODS: Cross-sectional nationwide survey. RESULTS: Overall, 65% (n = 24) of residents who responded accepted a position with Kroger immediately after graduation. When asked about the degree of value the residency had on obtaining the resident's ideal position, 29 (76%) reported that it was "very valuable" and the remaining 9 (24%) reported that it was "somewhat valuable...

Background In 2012, in a first for the developed world, New Zealand reclassified trimethoprim to allow specially trained pharmacists to supply the medicine without a prescription to women with cystitis fitting specific criteria. Objective This study explored pharmacists' views of the training and screening tool, impact on practice, and the pharmacists' perceptions of views of patients and doctors. Methods Structured interviews were conducted with 28 New Zealand pharmacists trained to supply trimethoprim. These pharmacists were selected to represent geographical spread as well as urban, suburban and rural...

BACKGROUND: The ACO Program (Programme ACO), a continuous quality improvement program (CQIP) in anticoagulation therapy, was offered in community pharmacies as a pilot project. OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the participants' appreciation for the various activities of the program. METHODS: Participants had access to training activities, including an audit with feedback, online training activities (OTA), clinical tools and support from facilitators...